Rear caliper wont swing open

protege421

Member
:
Protege ES 2003
Hello fellow proud mazda owners!
I was planning to replace my brake pads today.
However, I just spent the last 4 hours trying to pry open the passenger side read caliper with no success.
I drive a Protege ES 03. The rear calipers only have one sliding pin, the other "pin" actually acts like a swing arm.
Anyways, I remove the wheel, loosened the upper sliding pin and could not get the caliper to swing open.
My best guess is rust? The last guy that did my brake pads was not a certified mechanic, just a friend of a friend that would do it for a low price (the price we pay...). This was about 2 years ago. I didn't see any of the work he did. But i get the impression he did not apply any grease or lubricant anywhere on the caliper as the upper pin was bone dry when i pulled it out...
Any ideas on how i can get the caliper to swing open?
I've tried opening the bleeder valve and the master cylinder cap to relive pressure, then tried prying it again, no success. Even applied a torch to the caliper (careful not to burn any sensitive areas) and sprayed some PBlaster under the boot of the lower "swing arm" and outside the pads where they meet with the caliper, nothing.
At this point I am beat and defeated. Tomorrow is Saturday so I'm planning to give it another go.
Any tips or help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
 
Last edited:
Hello fellow proud mazda owners!
I was planning to replace my brake pads today.
However, I just spent the last 4 hours trying to pry open the passenger side read caliper with no success.
I drive a Protege ES 03. The rear calipers only have one sliding pin, the other "pin" actually acts like a swing arm.
Anyways, I remove the wheel, loosened the upper sliding pin and could not get the caliper to swing open.
My best guess is rust? The last guy that did my brake pads was not a certified mechanic, just a friend of a friend that would do it for a low price (the price we pay...). This was about 2 years ago. I didn't see any of the work he did. But i get the impression he did not apply any grease or lubricant anywhere on the caliper as the upper pin was bone dry when i pulled it out...
Any ideas on how i can get the caliper to swing open?
I've tried opening the bleeder valve and the master cylinder cap to relive pressure, then tried prying it again, no success. Even applied a torch to the caliper (careful not to burn any sensitive areas) and sprayed some PBlaster under the boot of the lower "swing arm" and outside the pads where they meet with the caliper, nothing.
At this point I am beat and defeated. Tomorrow is Saturday so I'm planning to give it another go.
Any tips or help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

Do you have the E-BRAKE off?
 
Do you have the E-BRAKE off?

Yes, the E-brake was on. I'm sorry, I'm fairly new to working on my car... but yes, I finally got the caliper to swing open. Thank you very much.
Now I have another problem... So I insert both brake pads but the caliper will not close because the pads are too thick(?) I got everything aligned and its not he piston that is blocking the pads, its the caliper. And by the way, I've tried pushing the piston back by opening the master cylinder cap, releasing the bleeder valve, using one of those tools to push back the piston... and the piston does not want to move back, no matter how hard I try. But that's another problem, the caliper itself is hitting the brake pad, not the piston. Its about 1/4th of an inch too thick.
What should i do?
 
Yes, the E-brake was on. I'm sorry, I'm fairly new to working on my car... but yes, I finally got the caliper to swing open. Thank you very much.
Now I have another problem... So I insert both brake pads but the caliper will not close because the pads are too thick(?) I got everything aligned and its not he piston that is blocking the pads, its the caliper. And by the way, I've tried pushing the piston back by opening the master cylinder cap, releasing the bleeder valve, using one of those tools to push back the piston... and the piston does not want to move back, no matter how hard I try. But that's another problem, the caliper itself is hitting the brake pad, not the piston. Its about 1/4th of an inch too thick.
What should i do?

There is a special procedure I hope you are following for moving the piston back into the caliper. For your model of car I believe it has to TWIST in a certain direction, while an allen screw is removed? If you try to COMPRESS the piston straight in with a compressor, it will damage the caliper.
 
Last edited:
There is a special procedure I hope you are following for moving the piston back into the caliper. For your model of car I believe it has to TWIST in a certain direction, while an allen screw is removed? If you try to COMPRESS the piston straight in with a compressor, it will damage the caliper.

You are correct, the piston has to be pushed back by twisting... I just hope i didnt ruin it after beating on it for the past 30 min.
This video explains it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOu_FikCJ94

Thanks again!
 
Just so you know the caliper won't swing all the way open because the parking brake cable is hitting the strut assembly. You have to remove the bolts that hold the bracket on so you can move the whole thing out of the way (As if you were to change the rotors, too.) Before you do that loosen the bolt in the back for where you adjust the caliper piston with a hex key. You don't need to push or twist the piston.
 
Back